The Pergamon Zeus Altar and the Gigantomachy - South Frieze

Michael Lahanas

 

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The Southern frieze

Kybele , Adrasteia, Kabiros (or Rhea, Klymene and Iapetos)?, Tithonus

Adrasteia : She whom none can escape. Properly an epithet of Rhea Cybele in her attribute of the Mother who punishes human injustice, which is a transgression of the natural right order of things. The Greeks and Romans identified her with Nemesis. Tithonus was a son or brother of Laomedon the king of Troy. He was made immortal by Zeus at the request of Eos who loved him. However, she neglected to ask that Tithonus be given the gift of eternal youth, so that he withered away in an ever increasing decrepitude. The name Tithonus thus became proverbial for a decrepit old man.

Selene?, the Horses of Helios charge against a giant. Selene was a Greek goddess of the moon

Theia with opponent, Eos riding on a dog or lion over a fallen giant? Hemera (mostly destroyed). Theia is a minor Greek goddess, one of the Titans. Her husband and brother is Hyperion with whom she had three children - Helios (the sun), Eos (the dawn) and Selene (the moon).

Leon (a giant with a lion head) and Aither (or Astraios?) fighting, then the winged God Uranus against some enemy, Themis. Details

Themis, was a daughter of Uranus and Gaea. She was the Greek goddess of human rights and mother of Iapetus, Prometheus and the fates. Aither (Αἰθήρ, Aether): son of Erebos and Nyx brother of Hemera.

Phoebe fighting with a Torch against a winged giant (another giant has lost the battle) and Asteria and her dog fighting with a giant. Phoebe was the goddess of waxing and waning cycles. Ruler of the sapphire-regioned moon and cloven-hoofed animals. Asteria is a Titan woman, daughter of Koios (brother of Kronos) and Phoebe and daughter of Leto.

Greeks

Greece

World

Index

Hellenica World